Sunday, December 02, 2012

Welkom Model Aircraft Club staged another truly brilliant competition and are to be sincerely complimented on the professional and enthusiastic approach, which they always apply to running the Fun Fly Masters. This year they even managed to arrange good weather with constant 15km/hour winds throughout the weekend. WMAC have now hosted the Masters for 19 years...another record of which they can feel justly proud.

Friday, November 30, 2012

If any Club has 2013 competition/event dates that include electric flying and would like to post them on the Indoor Electric webpage, will they please contact Judy Harris on 072 729 1850 or trogon@mweb.co.za and we will arrange for them to appear on our SAMAA link.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

It has been brought to the attention of SAMAA that the deadlines imposed through PR19 are not practical. In addition a large number of requirements within the procedure were queried.

To assist, SAMAA will make application on behalf of all clubs for 2013 & will revisit the contents of the procedure together with RAASA and other applicable groups to ensure that minimal new requirements are imposed on clubs and at the vast majority of site were RC flying takes place.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

This event will be held on Tuesday 11th December 2012 and will be the third and final team selection event for the Indoor F3P World Championships, which will be held in Germany in February 2013. The team selection events are the 2012 SAIEA Nationals (14th July 2012), Team Trial #1 (6th October 2012) and team Trial #2 (8th December 2012).

Rules and schedules are already posted on the Indoor Electric SIG link on the SAMAA website. Visit www.samaa.org.za.

Venue will be Springs Indoor Sports Arena* and Entry Forms will be available on the Indoor Electric website and also a link from the SAMAA Blog.
*to be confirmed

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Please be informed that on 7 October 2012 the Air Force Museum facility at Air Force Base Zwartkop will be available for open Jet flying from 10h00 until 16h00. This will be a monthly arrangement.

SAMJA and SAMAA membership is compulsory. Pilots must be in possession of a valid SAMAA card to fly. Only Gas Turbines and Ducted Fans above 90mm will be welcome. A landing fee of R50.00 will be levied for the day. All non-SAMJA pilots that would like to fly should join SAMJA before the 7th of October 2012 as double membership fees will be levied on the day at the event. All documents and bank detail available on our web site.

No catering will be available on the day so please provide. Braai fires will be available as from 15h00, so please bring some meat, salad, and rolls and we can work on our social status.

If any further information is required please email me , otherwise Sms or Whatsapp me on 0823776493 as I will not be able to take calls while traveling abroad until 6 October 2012. You could also contact Dylan Roberts on 083 450 1501.

Sorry for this late report but things here get hectic. First up some great news. Conrad and Dirk put up a time in their first F2C heat with 3 pit stops. The time was 3:55.9 and with just 2 pitstops this will improve, so we shall see today. Conrad got their engine going well after very little practice time and during the 3-up race, Dirk managed very well. He got a couple of warnings for high flying and stuff but completed the heat in fine style so we are all very proud of the guys. Just getting through a 100 lap heat in a 3-up race sounds very basic, but it's a break-through for our guys. Anyone that has flown F2C will know just how quickly the aggressive pilots can get rid of the competition if they can. So now it should go a lot better with the next heat.

On the stunt side our electric models are working very well. The weather last week for the warm-up world cup competition was between 38 and 40 degrees and the flying side is in a park with big trees all around so you can imagine how turbulent it is. I placed 22nd out of 30.....just a few points behind Loren Nell (whats new??) and we each had one good flight out of 3. The judges don't seem to watch much of the non-experts so it's a bit of a crap-shoot. When it got cooler (29~30 degrees) on Monday for the first two rounds of the world champs, the wind came up and blew well over the 9 metres per second limit, but because the gusts don't always last 30 seconds, we just had to fly.The next few days the wind stopped and we all put in better rounds.

O.K. now its Saturday morning and the world champs are over and done. The results are on this link: http://www.f2abcd.com/results.php

I placed 38th and Percy 57th out of 66 competitors. As a team we placed 16th out of 29 countries so we did o.k. I reckon. My Newtron worked flawlessly so this is a record for me......no hassles with my equipment. I will write a full report when we get home. One more record Percy at 70 was the oldest competitor in stunt. We will be back home on Tuesday.

Monday, August 06, 2012

" The SA Indoor Electric Association is looking for suitable venues in which to fly indoor electric models. These venues can be school halls, indoor sports arenas, church halls, warehouses, aircraft hangars etc etc. If you know of anywhere or know of anyone who may have a suitable venue please call one of the committee members on the numbers below. We are looking for venues in all regions of the country.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Hi Bob , Lionel , Peter ,Percy , Chris , Joe and John ,
I am not to sure who may be able to help so have sent this email to all of you .
The R/C club that I started in Wolmaransstad some 18 years ago have over the years had an active policy of helping students from the local high school (And towns close by ) to learn to fly R/C gliders and power planes .
We donated radios , planes ,building time and tuition to several students over the years and although it was done on a small informal scale there are some of them that are still flying after leaving Wolmaransstad and High school. I left Wolmaransstad about two and a half years ago and the club now has only one active member , Alex Lombard .
Alex has become involved with a group called the Young eagles . This is run by a very passionate guy Mike Visagie , who owns a farm with two full size runways and is a very active EEA(Experimental Aircraft Association .) member. for the last two years he has had a fly-in for the home built and light aircraft guys . In 2011 Alex took several model aircraft to the two day fly in to show the youngsters who wanted to get involved in aviation andÂ show there was a way that would be a good introduction to aviation .
This year Mike asked Alex and I to bring some models and buddy boxes as he had invited some 100 kids from the local communities to come to the show and have a flight in an aircraft .
Unfortunately I was unable to help but Alex got several R/C pilots from Leeudoringstad MAC and they managed to keep the kids busy .
Mike said that the R/C side was a great success and we discussed modeling as a way to get more youngsters from the wolmaransstad , Leeudoring and Maqqassie area (North West ) involved in aviation .
Mike has donated a Pietenpol Kit plane to the Wolmaransstad High School ( See attachments ) and Alex has Donated money for radios and model aircraft for next years Young Eagles Fly in .They wanted to know if SAMMA could get involved in some way or give advice or help in forming a group such as the SAMAA transformation and developement team .
The Brits gliding guys have( I believe) already visited Mikes airfield at Swartpan earlier this year and may also be invited to next years fly in .( Chris A ?)
If any of you guys can assist or help Mike in any way please contact him (See attached letters etc )
If SAMAA can be present next year I will be glad to be a part and help in any way I can .
If some of the info from Mike would be of interest to SAMAA mambers maybe SAMAA News can print something to get this out to the rest of the SAMAA members .
Thanks for your time and hope to see you guys on a flying field again some time .
Hugh Edmunds .
SAMAA 2841 .
Cell . 082 893 1513
Now living in Kempton Park

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The
South African Indoor Electric Association hosted its very successful Indoor F3P
Nationals in Pretoria on Saturday 14th July 2012.

The
organising committee, which consisted of Blake Dormer, James Hill, Kristi van
der Mast, Sharna Simpson and Judy Harris, presented the competitors and judges
with a really nice venue to hold the first team selection event for the
forthcoming Indoor World Championships, which will be held in Germany in
February or March 2013.

Three
classes were flown: Sportsman, Intermediate and Masters with the Masters Class
flying the international F3P – AP Schedule.

Indoor
flying is starting to grow in South Africa and as can be seen from the group
photo there is a lot of interest with many spectators turning up to see the
incredible skills shown by the pilots. To fly a sequence of manoeuvres inside a
hall requires a lightly built model set up to fly very slowly. This allows the
pilot to have enough time to present a well-controlled display to the judges.

All
the pilots flew really well and are to be sincerely congratulated for entering
the competition.

The
score sheet shows the positions for each class, with the three best flights out
of four normalised to give the final positions.

I
would like to thank all the pilots, judges, organisers and spectators for
making this competition a really fun day for indoor flying. In particular Shaun
Pershouse from Hatfield Christian Church for arranging the hall and to
Marthinus Potgeiter and SAMAA for their support for the Indoor SIG.

The
next official indoor competition will be held on Saturday 6th
October and will be Team Trail #1. Please visit www.samaa.org
and click on the Indoor webpage for more information about this exciting,
affordable form of aeromodelling.

Friday, May 04, 2012

The second annual inter-varsity flight competition took place on the 25 September 2011 at the Swartkops Air Force Base. The University of Pretoria and the University of Witwatersrand competed in this spectacular competition where Aeronautical Engineering students from both Universities built their own radio controlled model aircraft.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

On 21 April 2012 at the CIAM Plenary meeting in Lusanne, Switzerland it was announced that the first F3P Indoor World Champs would be held in Coburg, Germany in either February or March 2013.
In order for South Africa to send a team to this competition it is necessary to hold three Team Selection events in 2012. These events will be the 2012 F3P Indoor Nationals, the 2012 F3P Team Trial #1 and the 2012 F3P Team Trial #2.
Due to the logistics involved in organising the three team selection events we ask all interested pilots to follow the SAIEA link on the SAMAA website for all information regarding these events. The dates are as follows:-
2012 F3P Indoor Nationals – Saturday 14th July 2012– Sunday 15th July 2012
2012 F3P Team Trial #1 – Saturday 6th October 2012 – Sunday 7th October 2012
2012 F3P Team Trial #2 – Saturday 8th December 2012 – Sunday 9th December 2012
Venues/entry forms/Rules/schedules etc will be posted on the SAIEA website on Tuesday 22nd May 2012. Entries for the F3P Indoor Nationals will close on Saturday 23rd June 2012. NO LATE ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

RMAC hosted a very professionally run Nationals over the Easter weekend. All three disciplines attracted very good entries, with 16 in Large Scale, 11 in Pylon and 12 in Scale.

The weather presented all pilots with a challenge especially on Sunday. Everyone flew very well and it was great to see lots of family, friends, supporters and spectators who all came to join in the action.

The large-scale planes flew amazingly complicated manoeuvres (as many as 10 snap roles in a schedule!). The Pylon classes included Standard Quickies, Hot Quickies and FAI models, which flew at 300km/hr! Scale had one of the biggest entries in recent years and the Sportsman Class is a really good way to promote this discipline. All r/c pilots should give it a try in the future.

Flying competitions may seem hard work, but all those who competed will have raised their piloting skills to a new level, which will enable them to enjoy their flying even more at a normal club weekend. One RMAC member only started flying in November but competed in the Large Scale Sportsman Class and flew very well. This really must be a first in SA!

I am pleased to announce that after due process, the SAMAA Management Committee has approved appointment of Juanita Smith as the new SAMAA Treasurer. Juanita's financial background is ideally suited to this critical role & following a structured handover period she will assume responsibilities for the 2012 financial period from Keith Nichols who has served the SAMAA and its members with unselfish dedication & distinction over the past periods.

Juanita has a passion for aeromodeling too, and is already an Glider pilot and recently competed at the combined Power Nats where she participated in Pylon racing and Scale disciplines. Juanita is a member of the RMAC club in Johannesburg, where she & husband Alan (also an accomplished RC pilot) are based.

Sunday, April 01, 2012

The SAMAA has recognised a new SA height record. This was claimed by Aaron Tshabalala flying from the Diepsloot Club just North of Johannesburg.
The new record is 19 329 feet or 5891 metres above launch point.
A 55 cc petrol engine of Chinese origin powered the record breaking aircraft which has a span of 3 metres and mass of 4,3 Kg.
The plane is launched and landed under radio control but most of the flight takes place under a Locosys GPS. The GPS feeds into a "credit card" computer -- a Pandaboard ES -- that drives the servos and maintains a pre-programmed flight pattern.
This flight pattern is a full power climb until the fuel runs out, followed by a circling glide back to the landing area. The initial rate of climb is 2000 feet per minute. The plane carries enough fuel for a ten minute engine run. The total flight time was 46 minutes and 13 seconds.
Aaron thanks the following people and organizations for help and advice on this unbelievable achievement:
The SAMAA, his associates at the Engineering Department of the Centurion Technicon, two scientific officers at Denel, who cannot be named for reasons of security, Sky Hi Systems which provided the GPS and Pandaboard and all the helpers at the Diepsloot Club.
(Sorry no photos yet)

Monday, March 26, 2012

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Barnstormers Flying Club hosted one of the Gauteng region's Round 1 of the 2012 Fun Fly Series on Sunday 11th March 2012. The R35,000 cash prizes, which will be presented at the Fun Fly Masters on the 24th and 25th November 2012 attracted a record entry of 12 pilots. The competition was very successful and as a bonus three companies Hobby Centre, RC Pilot and UHU presented prizes.

Prizes: Hobby Centre will present an electric
motor similar to that used on their new Fun Fly plane + a roll of lightweight
covering material to one of the Open Class entrants (by participation/lucky
draw).

R.C.Pilot will present a mini helicopter to one of the
Sportsman Class entrants (by participation/luck draw).

ENTRY FEE:R40

Organisers:
Dave & Judy Harris & Willem Johnson

Organised under the auspices of SAMAA. Only SAMAA members may enter.

FUN FLY MASTERS

Welkom Model Aircraft Club 24th/25th
November 2012

Prizes:

1st Open Class R12,500
cash

2nd Open Class R10,000
cash

3rd Open Class R 7,500 cash

1st Sportsman Class R 5,000 cash

Plus all the usual trophies & prizes sponsored by South African
companies,WMAC members & hobby shops.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Due to the lack of interest and support for this event we have been forced to cancel it and the AGM.

This is extremely disappointing especially in view of the huge success of the first and second Indoor Challenges.

Would the 6 pilots who have paid their entry fee please advise us your banking details so we may refund your entry fee.

In order to find a way forward for Indoor Electric flying in South Africa, we suggest we hold a meeting to discuss various issues. We would like to hold this meeting on Saturday 18th February 2012 @ Barnstormers Flying Club @ 14:00. Please bring a plane so everyone can enjoy some flying after the meeting. The wind normally drops completely at about 17:30 so bring a foamie as well for some more fun and to share each others ideas about model design, equipment and performance. Braai facilities are available so please advise if you will be attending so we can arrange charcoal etc. Please bring your own meat and liquid refreshments etc.
Yours sincerely
Dave and Judy

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